The List: What to Do This Week

This weekend wasn't nearly as productive as I hoped it would be (an impromptu order for Bottomless Mimosas at brunch on Saturday didn't help...). Since I leave for Vietnam in two weeks (!) I was hoping to buy some last-minute trip necessities and start packing. Instead, friends came over Friday night to surprise me with a belated birthday celebration, then I spent most of the weekend bopping around the West Side as soon as the rain stopped. Hope you had an equally fun (if not productive...) weekend!

Last week, friends came over for a Settlers of Catan night (nerd alert) and—because one is a nutritionist and incredible cook—I ended up making cocktails while she took over my kitchen to make Kelp Noodle Pad Thai. I only admitted after we were eating it that I had my reservations as soon as I heard the name of the recipe (kelp noodles??), but it was so delicious and easy! The dish is incredibly healthy— kelp noodles are apparently a great source of calcium—and her recipe uses packages of chopped Trader Joe's vegetables so that the whole thing came together in a matter of minutes! Win-win.

If you live in a large city, you become so used to people living on the street, that at a certain point you stop actively taking notice of them—in Santa Monica, you may step around several people while walking to the pier; in Downtown L.A., there are streets filled with tents that you drive through to get to the areas with apartment buildings and restaurants. Yesterday's New York Times included an incredibly touching profile of Nakesha Williams, a homeless woman who lived on 46th and Park in New York, as told by the people who knew her before and after she became homeless. It's an incredible story and a poignant reminder that anyone can end up homeless, and that the person you give a dollar to may be someone's college best friend or beloved niece, as Nakesha was. Read the full story here.

Who else watched the Oscars last night? We watched it at a friend's house, where they set out a "red carpet" (red towel and red yoga mat, ) and it got me all excited to watch movies coming out this year. The trailer for Thoroughbreds looks so weird and creepy, but also funny and slightly fantastical, as if Wes Anderson directed a thriller. It comes out this Thursday and I can't wait! I already have tickets to see it Friday. Looking for something before then? We also saw Game Night this weekend and loved it!

It's no secret I have a thing for a female singer-songwriters, like Lauren Ruth Ward and Julien Baker (two favorites I've written about here!). Lately, I can't get enough of Margaret Glaspy whose 2016 Tiny Desk Concert introduced me to her song, Emotions and Math. On Friday, she released an EP which included the song Before We Were Together, an epic breakup song ("Life was better before we were together."). It's a little poppier than her past songs, and I'm all about it! Also recently came across the song Smaller Than My Mother by Overcoats and love the deep bass beat (which is something I don't think I've ever said before...).

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